by Joan Kent | May 11, 2015 | Engage Your Students, Health and Wellness
Image credit jokeroo.com
Sleep difficulties can take several different forms. Let’s look at one.
If you have trouble falling asleep at night, one easy solution is to eat a small portion of carbohydrate, preferably starch, about an hour or so before bed. Starch examples include quinoa, potato, rice, sweet potato, pumpkin, oats, even pasta.
What Starches Do[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Starches stimulate insulin, and insulin allows a specific amino acid (tryptophan) to reach the brain. When tryptophan reaches the brain, it’s used to make serotonin.
Serotonin relaxes us and allows us to fall asleep. It’s also converted to melatonin, the sleep hormone. Melatonin has the additional benefit of anti-inflammatory action, which is one reason sleep is so good for us.
When Starch Doesn’t Work, Add Turkey
If you try starch and still can’t fall asleep, another suggestion is to start your pre-bed food ritual with a little bit of turkey, which contains a relatively high amount of tryptophan. Eating carb together with turkey will have the same effect that you may have experienced after a Thanksgiving dinner — feeling sleepy after the meal.
Although turkey is usually blamed for that sleepiness, the tryptophan wouldn’t reach the brain readily if we didn’t eat carbs with it. Several larger and more abundant amino acids compete with tryptophan for brain entry. In effect, they block tryptophan and prevent it from reaching the brain.
Those competing amino acids are used to form dopamine and norepinephrine, which make us alert.
How Carbs Help
When carbs trigger insulin release, the insulin transports amino acids throughout the body. They can then be used for the various functions that aminos are used for: formation of antibodies, hormones, receptor sites, enzymes, and more.
At that point, tryptophan — smaller in size and less plentiful — can reach the brain. It can then be converted to serotonin.
Why Starches? Why Not Sugar?
Some people tend to crave sugar before bed, but eating it can backfire for a couple of reasons.
Sugar triggers the release of endorphins and dopamine. As mentioned above, dopamine is a brain alertness chemical, so it could wake us up, rather than allowing us to fall asleep. Some people are more sensitive to the dopamine effect of sugar and might find themselves “wired” after eating sugar.
Starches, in contrast, tend to produce relaxation without that wired feeling.
Another Problem With Sugar
Another way sugar can backfire has to do with glucose. This could wake us up in the middle of the night.
Sugar tends to trigger high insulin secretion. That effect is much more pronounced in some people than in others. (Those people are called “carbohydrate sensitive”, but don’t be confused by the name. We’re still talking about sugar before bed, rather than starch.)
In someone who is sensitive to sugar in this way, the extra insulin might cause glucose levels to drop very low. It might seem as if the low glucose would make someone so tired that they’d stay asleep all night and even having trouble waking in the morning.
Instead, the drop in glucose tends to cause us to wake up in the middle of the night and have difficulty going back asleep, even if we feel tired.
So starch again seems to be a better solution.
Bottom line
Eat protein throughout the day, and eat less protein with your dinner. Eat a small portion of starch about an hour or so before bedtime. Add turkey if it doesn’t work. Avoid late-night sugar.[/wlm_private]
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Note from John: Last Thursday a participant asked me; “John, where do you find all of these helpful tidbits about eating? I'm a sugar addict like you (I share my own personal struggles with my class) and appreciate your helpful reminders.” I responded by telling her that Dr. Joan Kent, our resident nutritionist at my website ICI/PRO, publishes these weekly. I simply copy down a few notes or print the article and share the info during recoveries.
by Joan Kent | Apr 6, 2015 | Health and Wellness
The Natural Eating Cycle is simple and straightforward: We feel hungry. We eat in response. The hunger stops. We stop eating and lose interest in food.
We could visualize those 4 steps as a circle because they form a continual, ongoing process. Eating that natural way is primal and elemental.
Babies are expert at it, although it obviously takes a parent or caretaker to feed them. The last step is one they have down cold, though. Have you ever tried to feed a baby who’s not hungry anymore? Good luck.
That’s how it’s supposed to be.[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Yet the natural eating cycle can go wrong, and sugar is one reason that can happen. More about sugar’s effects later.
Unnatural eating patterns could include restriction (dieting or fasting); bingeing; purging (self-induced vomiting, abuse of laxatives, excessive exercise); irregular meal timing (skipping meals, grazing all day); extremely rapid eating; or eating a lot of food when not hungry.
I once read 2 different articles, each describing a “disturbed” eating cycle. According to the first cycle, an event disturbs our equilibrium. We eat. We feel fat and resolve to diet.
The other eating cycle went like this: We diet. We feel deprived. We binge.
No doubt some of your students have experienced one or both of those cycles. What if we put the two patterns together and look at interactions among the steps?
1. An event disturbs our equilibrium.
2. We eat.
3. We feel fat and resolve to diet.
4. We diet.
5. We feel deprived.
6. We binge.
The 6 steps in sequence seem reasonable, and form a pattern to which your students might relate. Based on clinical experience, though, I say there’s more to it. Below are a few ways it might go.
Scenario A
We go all the way through steps 1-6. After we binge in Step 6, we then circle back to Step 3 — we feel fat and resolve to diet. From there, we continue through the lower part of the list, and cycle through Steps 3-6, possibly over and over.
Scenario B
We’ve binged, presumably after Steps 1-5. That takes us to Step 1 at the top of the list: bingeing is the event that disturbs our equilibrium, so we eat in response to it. We might then continue to cycle through the remaining Steps 3-6, possibly over and over.
Scenario C
This one involves only Steps 1-3: the event that disturbs us, eating, feeling fat and resolving to diet. But in this scenario, resolving to diet — just anticipating the stress of dieting and deprivation — is enough to disturb our equilibrium, so we eat. Someone could stay stuck in Steps 1-3 in this way for quite some time.
How can sugar make any or all of these 3 scenarios more likely?
We might feel deprived in Step 5 because we gave up sugar to diet and are now experiencing sugar cravings.
We might feel stressed at the anticipation of dieting in Step 3 because it will mean giving up sugar.
With sugar, we might find ourselves at Step 1 more frequently, feeling more disturbed by a greater number of events. That could simply be because the neurochemical effects of sugar make it difficult for some people to maintain equilibrium. Almost any stage of sugar addiction, including withdrawal, can make our behavior (eating behaviors and others) more impulsive.
The natural eating cycle is a delicate balance. It’s always subject to disruption, but eating sugar can disrupt it a lot more. If you have students who are struggling with unnatural eating patterns, please let them know.[/wlm_private]
by Joan Kent | Oct 6, 2014 | Health and Wellness, Master Instructor Blog
I'm not kidding. On the first day of Registered Dietitian School, I think every RD student must be taught to recommend the Registered Dietitian Breakfast: orange juice, yogurt and granola, often with berries.
I wish I could tell you this is a joke, but over many years, I've heard this recommendation from virtually every RD I've known or heard speak to groups. (And I've known a bunch. It's my business.) I'm suspicious when a group espouses exactly the same thing.
It has always driven me crazy, and still does. For one thing, they consider yogurt protein.
If you're thinking that yogurt IS protein, please understand they've been making this ridiculous recommendation for decades — long before the recent Greek yogurt trend started. That's important to keep in mind.
Before the craze, all yogurt – even the unflavored, unsweetened kind – was mostly carb with only a smidgen of protein. No yogurt had enough protein to compensate for the sugar in the OJ, the berries and the granola, especially when combined with the lactose in the yogurt. Yet RDs were blithely, shamelessly recommending it.
Even since the popularity of Greek yogurt, though, it's a bad recommendation because it's made with no specifications, no qualifiers. Sure, SOME Greek yogurts actually have enough protein to be considered protein food, but many do not. They're called Greek only because they've been created to feature that creamy texture that's considered characteristic of Greek-style yogurts. People really like them, but their protein content is relatively low.
And after all these years, non-Greek varieties of yogurt don't have much protein. They never did.
None of these food facts, however, has stopped RDs from recommending this infamous breakfast. Consistently, too, even though it's basically sugar, sugar, sugar and sugar. I even see it recommended in articles that offer breakfast suggestions for both regular folks and athletes. Some of the articles display pretty color photos of the breakfast.
In my humble opinion, the pretty picture doesn't make the sugar go away. It doesn't increase the protein content of the meal.
Again, the type of yogurt is almost never specified or clarified. But even telling the reader or the listener that it should be “Greek” won't fully help. Not when there are too many Greek-style yogurts available – and when, as previously mentioned, many of them have very little protein.
So which recommendation would make me stop ranting about, and railing against, the Registered Dietitian Breakfast? RDs could tell clients who want to try that meal to look for yogurt brands that contain between 18 and 22 grams of protein per serving. And lose the OJ.
How simple is that?
Okay, I freely admit RDs know some important stuff for sure, and many have their clients' welfare in mind at all times. Nevertheless, I'd give anything to meet even one who doesn't recommend this same breakfast. It absolutely has to be the first lesson they ever learn in RD school. How else could you explain such a bizarre phenomenon?
If it weren't part of the RD curriculum, why would they all say the same thing? Why would they have recommended it years before any yogurt, anywhere, had much protein?
You have to wonder, though: why would any curriculum include granola?
Avoiding unnecessary sugar and getting enough protein are only two keys to a healthy lifestyle. I help people conquer food addictions so they can keep moving forward (no matter what) with their goals to lose weight, improve their heath dramatically, transform their relationship with food, and stay that way. I'm available for coaching, lectures, workshops. Please visit http://www.foodaddictionsolutions.com.
by Joan Kent | Aug 11, 2014 | Best Practices, Health and Wellness, Master Instructor Blog
It’s dinnertime, and I’m flying home to San Francisco from a Houston business trip. The flight attendant is bringing around the service cart and I’m about to order … milk. I never drink milk, so why now?
Let’s go back to how the day started. Fortunately, I had ordered eggs and oatmeal from room service. (This was a number of years ago, before we all became gluten-phobic.) Breakfast showed up at 7:00; so far so good.
I was in Houston in January for a meeting called by Sherry. The meeting started at 10:00 a.m. and was scheduled to last till 1:00. My return flight was at 2:30 p.m.
Sherry had promised us food. I should have been suspicious, because Sherry and I once had dinner at an airport, and hers was a plate of white-flour pasta and a plate of white rice. The only foods at the meeting were donuts, Danish pastries, M&Ms, Halloween-size candy bars, soft drinks and coffee. No refreshments for me, thank you.
At 1:00, a few of us got into Sherry’s car so she could drive us to the airport. Six hours without food had left me hungry, and I planned to get food at the airport. Unfortunately, unexpected traffic due to an event in town slowed us to a crawl. It was not going to be possible to get food before my flight. Maybe a pack of raw almonds? Almost every airport newsstand sells those.
Well, time was so short I had to run to the gate. When I finally stepped on the plane, they closed the door literally the instant I was on board. And then.
The flight couldn’t take off for an hour due to some problem or other. (Believe me, I had stopped caring.) Even when we were cleared to go, we couldn’t take off because the plane now had to be de-iced. We sat on the tarmac for 2 more hours.
So our 2:30 flight departed at 5:30. There was no meal service — it was an afternoon flight. A 2½-hour flight. After a 7:00 a.m. breakfast and nothing else, all I could think about was food.
Finally, the beverage cart appeared. I had already decided what to order. You might think I’d grab whatever I could get, but as I watched people consume Pepsi, ginger ale and apple juice, I knew that spelled nothing but trouble for a carb-sensitive like me.
The answer lay in finding food.
Food on a beverage cart. Are you thinking peanuts? So was I. But they had pretzels. White flour would have been worse than nothing. So my plan — at this point, was it Plan B or Plan C? Maybe D; it was a long day — was milk. Milk isn’t a beverage; it’s food. Usually, I don’t drink it, but this wasn’t usual.
Got milk? They had it — 2%, the only kind they serve on airlines. I had done the calculations (plenty of time to do arithmetic on the tarmac), and 2% was actually the perfect answer. It came as close to a 40-30-30 meal as I could get on the fly, although it was light on protein and a bit heavy on fat. Even though I don’t go around pushing 40-30-30 meals (remember The Zone?) on my clients, I do know that the effect of those percentages is stabilizing.
The key word is Stabilizing, and that’s the take-away here. In this case, stability refers to both blood sugar (glucose) and brain chem. In a semi-emergency like this, it’s tempting to use the situation as an excuse to grab anything edible, even things we should avoid.
But milk was a wiser choice, and in 20 minutes I felt a lot better.
Lately, I’ve been finding it necessary to go with Plan B often — so the best idea is always to have one. When it comes to food, a solid Plan B is absolutely vital. Carry envelopes of protein powder or packs of raw nuts with you, rather than fruit. Think stability. After all, we’re talking about your brain first, as well as the rest of you.
by Joan Kent | Aug 4, 2014 | Health and Wellness, Master Instructor Blog
Photo © Team CSC & Tim De Waele
Stage races span the duration spectrum. Shorter stage races that are done over a weekend might feature a time trial and road race on Day 1, for example, then a criterium on Day 2. These points on fueling for stage races are culled from several sources — cycling books, cycling magazines, websites, and my coach.
Ideal fueling starts with Body Recalibration — not my term, just a fancy name for conditioning your body for recovery. Recovery should begin at least 6 weeks before race season. (An even better practice is to eat well year-round, but we have to start somewhere — and I’m well aware that this post is late in the season).
Start by eliminating junk — assuming any of you ever indulge in such stuff! Junk includes alcohol, sugar, caffeine, high-fat chips, and such. If you’re in the habit of fueling with sugar before and during trainings, it’s a good idea to eliminate that as part of this process.
My coach always said that endurance athletes never mind expending energy, but don’t want to waste it. Wasted energy refers to anything without a performance payoff. Having to detox from chemicals and junk like sugar wastes energy.
Next, add the good stuff. Eat foods in a natural state whenever possible (whole foods, rather than processed). Stress vegetables (3-6 cups a day), rather than fruit. Fructose is associated with lots of health issues and isn’t good fuel for training.
If it’s possible to eat organic, do. That’s less important if we don’t eat the skin. So organic nuts matter less, but organic apples are a big deal. At least stay away from The Dirty Dozen — the foods with the highest pesticide levels: apples, strawberries, grapes, celery, peaches, spinach, bell peppers, imported nectarines, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, imported snap peas, potatoes. Three foods recently added to the list are kale, collards and hot peppers, so it’s a Dirty 15.
Eat the same types of foods that you eat during your training. Race day is not the time for nutritional surprises. Believe it or not, if you’ve been junking out all the way up to race day, you might as well eat that way for the races.
Don’t deplete carbs or skip meals, especially race-day breakfast. Eat some extra starches 1-2 days before the event.
The primary nutrition concerns in training and racing are:
– Replacing water. Dehydration reduces blood volume; increases heart rate and perceived exertion; impairs thermoregulation, mental performance, and endurance.
– Replacing sodium. Low sodium can result in disorientation, nausea, fatigue, seizures, or collapse. Salt your food instead of using salt supplements.
– Saving glycogen during the race so it’s there at the end when you need it. (This may be a good place for Dr. Joan’s Potato Goo…)
– Replacing glycogen after the race so you can perform well in the next stage. High GI starch and protein in a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio replace glycogen better than sugar, including fruit. Don’t eat fats right after the race. They slow carb absorption.
Eat 3 hours or more before the start of the race. If you’re not adapted to that, consider it part of Body Recalibration. Avoid eating 30-60 minutes before the start, which may be too close to the effort. Find a food combination that works for you, but avoid all-carb (especially all-sugar) meals. They can lead to reactive hypoglycemia in some athletes and cause bonking. Instead, include protein and fat.
Refuel within 30 minutes after your race. Always. Be fanatical about it. Glycogen replacement is maximized during that 30 minutes because glycogen synthetase is in its active form and facilitates peak storage. Eating within 30 minutes counteracts cortisol’s breakdown of muscle protein for energy and will reduce soreness — very important for the next stage. If you miss the 30-minute window, your muscles may be temporarily insulin resistant for several hours. That prevents best glycogen replacement and may interfere with your performance in the next stage.
Eat again 2 hours later and 4 hours later — or 3 hours prior to the next stage. If you race twice that day, stay aware of how many calories you’re expending and consuming. Many convenient devices are available that are worn on your wrist and provide this information.
Racing at over 20 mph while drafting may burn roughly 12 kcal/kg/hr. Without drafting, that could increase to 15 kcal/kg/hr. Gender, size, and muscle mass all affect those values. Cycling efficiency (good technique) can lower them. The more you ride overall, the less you may burn.
The goal during racing is to postpone fatigue, not replace all of the calories you’ve burned. Full calorie replacement should occur during recovery.
Refuel within 30 minutes after the last race of the day, especially if you have to race again the next day!
And keep in mind that these points may also help on days that you teach several classes.
